enjoying every second of life and running

Track It

Yesterday was super hot. I had to run 6 Miles with 3 @ 7:20 Pace before our track workout. I got to do my miles around our college campus. It was so nice to see all the old familiar buildings, plus all of the new ones since we went to school. I was melting in the sun and not able to hit my paces at the end.

5.77 Miles Track Warm Up (ISU Campus, 47:59, 8:19 Pace)

Then it was on to track workout. Ryan met us and had Rob doing 400s. My workout was 12 X 200s (4 @ 46, 8 @ 44), it ended up being 4 @ 46, 6 @ 66, and then 1 400. I had some major user error issues and couldn’t seem to work my Garmin to save my life so unfortunately for this workout I don’t have all my splits. Collectively with recovery jogs:

2.52 10 x 200s, 1 x 400 (ISU Track, 2.52 Miles, 22:53, 9:05 Pace)

Followed by a cool down with Rob. 🙂

1.2 Miles Cool Down (ISU Campus, 12:39, 10:08 Pace)

This morning I took some time off work to meet Ryan at another college campus track for drills. First we did a warm up.

1.04 Miles (IWU Track, 8:21, 8:04 Pace)

Then it was a few 50s and onto drills. We did High Knees, Butt Kicks, Extended High Knees, Quick Feet and Laterals all on the grass barefoot. My muscles have been happily tweaked all day. I love the feeling of that good sore, worked out feeling. I can’t wait to incorporate these each week!

Excellent work to both of you and yes those drills will leave you feeling things you never thought you could, ouch (but good ouch).

Ya fill us in on Rebecca’s questions? Ryan was this guy (I think that is how you introduced us to him) but he really sounds like a coach. I can tell the 400’s plus for Rob is focused on the Marathon (and I am assuming he will be doing longer ones too 800’s and 1200), but your doing lots of 200’s can I wager you are set on breaking 20 this summer and looking for a 19:XX 5k (Oh and while your at is a sub 1:30 half). If I could gamble on this I would make a ton of money! Come on throw us a bone….your working so hard, lol. Great job!

Hey everyone! Ryan our friend who happens to be the captain of a local racing team and a very experienced runner. He is giving us some advice on how to improve.

Rob and I both have separate weaknesses to work on, hence the different workouts. I need a lot of improvement in my foot speed and form. Rob is focusing on maintaining endurance at a faster pace.

We are both trying to improve our short race times by focusing on specific drills and speedwork. We also hope that this ultimately helps us when we go to train for Chicago Marathon. Of course I’m ready to take a sub-20 5K and sub-1:30 HM, but it all just has to line up. I definitely feel challenged in a whole new way with running and it’s helping me learn what I can endure and get comfortable with bursts of speed.

Paige, try going a google map search of the ISU campus. You should see that North of the Horton Field House is an outdoor track. It’s been open the nights we go and it’s very nice. IWU’s track is off of Fell and also appears to be open.

Stephanie, I can’t say I have anything “in the works” other than see where the limits are. I’m just looking to improve and incorporate challenge into my workouts instead of just plugging in a load of miles. I feel like I can run all day, what I need to do is start picking apart the things I can improve on so I can make my longer races count, or at least that’s my hope.